Facing an estimated $1 billion budget shortfall, Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) listed several higher-education initiatives in her Jan. 14 speech to the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Napolitano laid out plans to double the number of bachelor’s degrees issued by state colleges and universities by 2020. The governor, re-elected to a second term in 2006, is calling for a fixed, four-year tuition rate beginning with next year’s college freshmen. Beginning in 2012, Napolitano wants to offer a scholarship program to give all the state’s high school graduates with a B average or higher a free ride to state colleges and universities. And Napolitano is reviving a measure introduced last year to raise the age students can drop out from 16 to 18.
Napolitano also asked lawmakers to require the state to get 15 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar power. And she asked them to approve a ballot measure to increase transportation funding.
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